1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a control interface for controlling various passenger systems in a vehicle and, more particularly, to a reduced complexity software flow control design for a rotary quad human machine interface that controls several occupant systems in a vehicle.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A vehicle typically includes various components and systems that are designed to enhance the comfort and convenience for the driver and passengers of the vehicle. These systems include, for example, audio systems, such as radio, compact disc player, DVD, cassette player, MP3, etc, climate control systems, including heating, ventilation and air conditioning, navigation systems, date and time displays, etc. Each of these systems typically includes a control interface through which the driver or other occupant of the vehicle can control and adjust the system parameters. Various types of control interfaces are known in the art for these types of systems, such as switches, buttons, dials, touch screens, voice recognition devices, etc.
U.S. Patent Publication 2006/0017585 to Lenneman et al., assigned to the assignee of this application and herein incorporated by reference, discloses a multifunction control system for a vehicle including four touch pads separated into quadrants and having two concentric rotary dials at the middle of the quadrants, where the center rotary dial also operates as a push button. A display is associated with the control system that displays the various system parameters in response to activation of the touch pads and rotary dials so that the driver can visually see the selected parameters. It would be desirable to simplify the software flow control of such a multifunction quad-based interface.